


Shaking Like a Leaf

by Cgirl1981



Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018), Queen (Band)
Genre: Band working on first album in studio, Early 70’s Queen, Pre-Fame Queen, bandmates are sweethearts to john, john shaking and panicked, near accident, one swear word
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-12-26 15:07:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18284756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cgirl1981/pseuds/Cgirl1981
Summary: John nearly gets ran over by a car outside the studio and his band mates try to comfort him and try to get him to stop shaking like a leaf.





	Shaking Like a Leaf

**Author's Note:**

> It’s weird how story ideas come about. This one popped in my head when I was just doing stuff around the house. This takes place in the early 70’s before Queen was famous. The band is in a London recording studio working on their first album.

Queen’s sound engineer Paul comes inside through the studio exit door with his arms around John. John has his eyes closed and his hands are shaking vigorously at his sides. His breathing is very irregular and panicked. Paul guides John to the nearby worn old couch that is against the wall and sits John down on it. Paul calls out “ hey guys where are you?” Voices from the recording booth area come closer, as the band comes towards the couch. Freddie is the first one to see the distraught John and rushes over to him and squats in front of him “ oh my god Deacy what happened?” Freddie puts a hand on Johns shoulder and John whispers “ I’m fine,I’m fine” to the room in general. Brian and Roger sit beside John on the couch and look up at a standing Paul;waiting for an explanation.

“ We were outside smoking and talking,when all of a sudden this big Cadillac jumps the curb and is coming straight for us on the sidewalk. I saw it first because I was facing it and had more time to jump back against the building. But John had his back to the car and was a couple seconds behind me.” Paul motions to John, who is sitting on the couch with his head down and eyes still closed. “ John is really lucky to be alive; it was really close. A few seconds more and....” Freddie puts his hand up to stop Paul’s talking as he says in a low even tone “ ok that’s enough”. Paul walks over to the sound deck and sits down on a chair and quietly says “ just telling you what happened”. 

Freddie quietly and gingerly says to John “ Dear are you ok? Do you want to see a doctor?” John whispers again “ I’m fine ,I’m fine” to Freddie’s questions. Freddie takes his hand off Johns shoulder and puts it on his back and rubs it up and down. The singer tries to calm John’s breathing “ you need to try to breath normal John. Breath in for two seconds and out for two seconds.” Roger puts a hand on Johns arm and starts “ yeah like the beats of the music. In for two counts and out for two counts”. John breathing is still irregular and Freddie starts to worry a bit and turns to Brian “ Brian can you get John some water?” Brian leaves the couch and goes towards the bathroom. John’s hands are on his thighs and still shaking vigorously. Freddie continues to rub the bassists back and at the same time gently instructs John to get back to a normal breathing pattern. After a few minutes John’s breathing is near normal and Freddie coos “ There you go. Thats better”. Brian comes back into the room with a glass of water and Freddie takes it from Brian and tries to get John’s attention “ John here drink some water”. John raises his hand and tries to grasp the glass but his hand is shaking so badly still that the bassist only succeeds in splashing some of the water all over his lap. Freddie instead takes control of the glass and brings it to John lips “ here take some sips of water”. John slowly gulps down some water and continues to look down with his eyes closed. 

Freddie brushes some of John’s hair off his forehead and says to the bassist “ John can you look at me please?” Freddie waits for some kind of response and after a second John replies to the floor “ why?” Freddie takes his pointer finger and puts it under John’s chin and brings the bassist’s face eye level with his own. The singer continues “ You can tell a lot by looking in someone’s eyes. You are hardly saying anything and worrying me a bit. Please open those eyes for me”. A few seconds later John opens his eyes and makes eye contact with a grateful looking Freddie. Freddie smiles and breaths out “There you go. Thank god for those beautiful eyes. And they look ok. You’re ok”. Freddie pats John’s arm. 

John looks around at his surroundings and sees the rest of the bands concerned eyes on him. He starts to feel a little more normal and at the same time a little silly and says in a guilty tone “sorry. I didn’t mean to bring our recording day to a standstill.” John takes a deep breath. Freddie exclaims “ Oh fuck our recording day. Let’s get you all the way better. Anyway you can’t play your guitar with shaking hands”. John looks down at his shaking hands and clenches them into fists at the same time, trying to get them to stop moving. He quietly starts to speak “ it was all so quick and surreal. All of a sudden a car was coming at us so quickly and my life literally flashed before my eyes. Like in one of those stupid Sunday afternoon movies.” John stops for a second and Freddie nods for him to continue. “And the last thing I saw was Veronica crying and standing with our kids.” John stops his story and has to choke down tears and sobs that want to form inside him. John hears Brian’s voice next to him say “ well thank god nothing happened.” Roger chimes in “ yeah Deacy, we can’t have a band without a bass player”. Freddie is quick to add to the conversation “ And you will go home to your family tonight, so stop thinking about Veronica crying”. John takes a few deep breaths and feels any sign of crying stopping. He shakily says “ Veronica would have literally killed me a second time if she could; leaving her with two kids.” Freddie laughs a little and says “ alright John, a little joke”. 

The next 20 minutes consist of John drinking the rest of his water as Freddie tells him funny stories about his adventures and wild times at university bars. Roger and Brian laugh along with John on the couch as Freddie dramatically acts out these funny scenes in front of them. Finally Freddie stops and declares “ Well, Deacy’s not shaking like a leaf anymore so I think we can commence our recording session. Paul let’s go”. Brian and Roger stand and go into the recording booth room as John stands from the couch and stops Freddie’s movement with a handshake “ thanks Freddie for making me laugh and forgetting all that nonsense”. Freddie gives John a warm smile and just simply says to the bassist “ let’s record”. 

In the recording booth room the band all stand in their regular spots and wait for Freddie’s direction. Freddie exclaims to the room excitedly “ let’s start with Keep yourself alive. We need to practice it a bit and it’s kinda fitting for today”. The rest of the band and Paul groan in unison at Freddie’s joke.


End file.
